Nude Looking in the Mirror

Lost in thought, her head resting on her hand, a young woman is looking at herself in the mirror. She is naked, other than a blue necklace and a silk scarf. But Helene Funke’s nude does not exude eroticism. Instead, the artist captures a moment of self-reflection. Against her parents’ wishes, Funke had studied art at the Women’s Academy in Munich and then lived in Paris for several years before moving to Vienna. She was one of the first artists to introduce to Austria the wild, contrasting style of the French Fauves. Funke’s many depictions of women explore female worlds with subtlety and nuance.

Credit: 2018 purchase at Kunsthandel Hieke, Vienna